crimsonchroniclesfandomcom-20200214-history
The Vindication
“Ladies and gents, pack your bags. We’re heading out to Vegas. Don’t get yourselves too comfortable, though. Recently, enemy agent Blindside sent us a transmission deliberately revealing their current hideout. It’s… odd, and most likely a trap. Which is why we’ve got backups within our backups. Be prepared for anything. We’re hitting up their safehouse, and tying up some loose ends. Although extracting Prisoner 34 is our top priority here, do whatever is necessary in regards to Gambler. Feeling lucky? Play your cards well, and if that doesn’t work, we’ve always got an ace up our sleeve. Let’s do this-- a full house sweep.” Summary The Vindication was a Crimson mission undertaken by the members of Maverick's ST-09 "Victor". The mission's authorization was mostly unofficial, as the council never approved. However, Minister thought it to be too valuable of an opportunity to pass up and managed Acid to give them a secret green-light. The team took some gear and drove a Paladin out to Vegas. Blindside has sent a transmission to HQ that day, challenging Minister to a rematch. Gambler had attacked Steel Cove and abducted Prisoner 34, and kept her in the same safehouse the coordinates revealed. On top of taking 34, which they had failed to do during the events of Steel Citadel, Minister wanted to capture Paradox as well for broken Halcyon asset details. Intel The Security Our little rendezvous point is nothing more than an ordinary Halcyon safehouse. Guards cannot be intimidated, and frequently use radios. On top of that, they will raise the alarm if more than two guards stop checking in. You can always check in yourself, but chances are they know the team personally. We've identified multiple cameras being watched from a remote location. Neutralizing the operator will be impossible, so your only choice will be to not screw up. The Targets We have two assets of extreme importance--Paradox and Prisoner 34. Both will be impossible to extract without being detected, so expect a shootout at some point. What would be nice is to at least get to them before tripping the alarms. If the place is going into lockdown, who knows what they'll do with the two. We're not sure where the captive is being held, but Paradox is in charge of pagers. He won't give himself up easily, so use any means necessary to secure him. We're unsure where the other Gambler agents are, but intel states that they're around somewhere. Best of luck, operatives. May Builderman be with you all. Transcript Beginning: Minister At long last, a tiny light faded into view. It stood out against the dark night sky of the American desert. It was the only light around; it had to be their destination. Minister parked the car and turned the lights off. Any closer, and they would be spotted. Gambler already knew they were coming, so at the very least they would have to use the element of surprise. It had been three days since they first hit the roads. They could've just flown, but it would've been too much unnecessary work. Rebel and Owl sat in the backseat, and Lancelot took shifts driving along with Minister. Lance would take the day shifts, while Minister would do the nighttime segments. This meant that he had just finished the final stretch. "We're here. Go case out the place." he said to the others. His voice, the first pertinent noise in an hour or two, woke Rebel from her little nap. "Wha-?" she started. She glanced around, slowly remembering why they were here in the first place. "Oh, right." She said sheepishly, as she pushed the car door open. Rebel It was nice to finally be out of the car. She'd been stuck there for the past three days, forced to listen to Lance's shitty eighties music. The didn't stop at motels overnight, they just kept going. It's not easy to fall asleep sitting up, she had to find a good resting spot for her head. She wasn't entirely awake yet, so she started running a few quick circles while flailing her arms around. It not only rendered her more conscious, but helped finally stretch her limbs after being cramped in the Paladin. However, she quickly stopped when she realized that they were in enemy territory. Rebel glanced to her side and saw Lance staring questioningly. "The hell are you looking at?" she asked, noticing that her voice was quite groggy. She hadn't said anything in a few hours. "Can we like, keep it down?" Lance responded. "We're supposed to not instantly raise the alarm." "Like you did the first time you were supposed to capture this Prisoner dipwit?" "That wasn't even my fault!" "Uh-huh. There's always an excuse for everything with you. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for your little fuck-up!" "What's so wrong with being here? We get our target along with valuable enemy information." Suddenly, a bullet landed in between the two. They looked up, surprised, to see Minister with his window rolled down, brandishing a silenced handgun. "Any day now, you two!" he said with a loud voice, but in a low register. "Fine." Rebel finally said, as the two ran towards the undergrowth in a beeline towards the safehouse ahead. Blindside Jackson Marell had many things on his mind. He carefully planned everything, yet he still wasn't confident in the end results. He knew Crimson was coming, he just didn't know how or when. So he risked one last pit stop to the house. He would then exit the premises and return once he saw fit. Jack took out a specialized red keycard and pressed it against a reader. The heavy door opened, and revealed a flight of stairs to the basement below. He shut the door behind him and stepped down. He finally reached the last step and flicked a lightswitch on. A table came into view, with a figure bound to a chair behind it. Blindside walked over to the captive and yanked the bag off their head. She had messy auburn hair in a ponytail with a big part flopping down onto her face. The bright orange jumpsuit she was wearing brandished the number 34 on it, in bold lettering. She looked at him coldly, wondering what he wanted this time. To her surprise, the mercenary instead threw a S97 onto the table. She looked at it a moment, and finally said: "The hell am I supposed to do with this?" "You fight back." he said. His tone of voice suggested that this was supposed to be obvious. The Prisoner was less sure. How would she fight back, strapped to a chair? "Why would I fight for you?" she asked. Blindside smiled. "There are people coming for you. They say they're here to rescue you, but when they do, you'll just be the next person they tie to a chair." "So what does that change?" "It's that you'd be fighting for an honorable cause. Halcyon, in it's heyday, was a glorious empire. These people, they're just maniacs. They want nothing more than blood." "Halcyon..." she trailed off. "Yes, Halcyon. You'd be greatly rewarded by us if--" "But Halcyon is gone! It's in ruins! You say you're Halcyon but you're not! You're not--I don't even know who you are!" Marell's previously neutral expression quickly curved downwards into a scowl. He knew she wasn't in the best mental state--her frantic tone implied that--but she knew very well what she was saying. It was the truth, even if Blindside didn't like it. "Fine then." he retorted passive-aggressively. He turned his back and began walking towards the stairs. "See if I care. It's not my loss if they take you." "Except if would ''be your loss." Jack stopped in his tracks. He wasn't expecting her to speak again. He contemplated her remark for a moment. Then he scrunched his face and clenched his fist. Jack snapped back around and punched the prisoner straight in the jaw. It was a clean hit, and his arm swung back to his side. The captive just dropped her head and sank downwards into her seat, remaining silent. Jack wasn't sure if she was conscious or not, but frankly, he didn't care. His face was red. "Motherfucker." he said through closed teeth, before leaving the room. Lancelot Not much noise could be heard at this time of the night. Just the the crickets chirping, which thankfully was enough to mask a faint ''"thunk!" ''and a scraping noise. A man in a dark Halcyon vest walked out from behind the corner, twirling a suppressed magnum. He whistled as he passed another guard, when he heard a slight buzz from his pocket. He reached into it and found his radio, which he answered. "This is Alpha Kilo to Tango Foxtrot. Do you copy?" a voiced echoed from his receiver. "Ten-four." "Good. What's the sit?" "Nothing. These guys sure are taking their time." "Jesus. If I'd have known it'd take them a million years to show up, I would've just gone back to bed. Anyways, keep your eyes peeled." "Will do." He pocketed his pager and smirked. Easier than he thought. The house was a two-story modern model, with a big garage, shrubbery outside and who knows what on the inside. Not far off from the one in Michigan, he thought. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed another guard. Red hair, reflective shades... worn during the night. It had to be her, no need to be all tense. He approached the guard. "Is this our entry point?" he asked. "No, I was just admiring this door's architecture." "I just asked." he answered as the two pushed the door open. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. Guards must go in every once in a while. "It is actually a pretty nice door." he stated on his way in. The red-haired guard rolled her eyes. "Listen," she said. "I'll look for Paradox. You go search for anything suspicious. Like, a heavily reinforced door." "What is with people and heavy doors in their homes nowadays? Is that just normal now?" The scarlet guard simply exhaled loudly before walking away. The other smiled to himself and thought, "If I were trying to hide someone from someone, where would I keep them?" Paradox "Goddammit! I've been standing here all night! Are they ever gonna show up?" "Patience is a virtue. You think this is something we want to rush?" "No... I just wasn't expecting Crimson to pussy out." "Well keep looking out. Pathfinder's got aerial coverage, he'll give us a mark." "...Hey you! Anything new outside?" "Uh, not really. Here?" "Boring as ever." "...It's a nice night today, eh?" "Sure." "You know, what if that Minister guy is actually trying to get in unnoticed?" "Minister? Nah. He'd be shooting up the place by now." "What if he didn't come alone then?" "That'd be weird." "Perhaps it would. Kinda gives you a little discomfort, no? Anyone here could be someone else." "Yeah?" "For all we know, Minister could be standing right next to us..." Owl It'd been a good twenty minutes since they first arrived. Owl was still in the Paladin with Minister. He seemed calm, although his expression would imply otherwise. ''Whoosh. ''She'd been hearing that sound for the fourth time now. She'd finally had enough. "Alright, what is that?" "Hmm?" Minister asked. "I keep hearing some sort of noise from above." "I didn't hear anything." A short silence fills the air. "...So, are you like, excited?" Owl questioned awkwardly. "Excited? That's... not the best way to put it. I'm more... I don't know actually." "Fair enough. ...Do you think you wouldn't be here if you did some things differently in your life?" "Define differently." "Are you proud of where you are right now?" "...Maybe yes. Maybe no. It's a complicated matter. There's a lot of people I want to get rid of, and this... well, it's a way to it, that's for sure." ''Whoosh. "There it is again!" "What?" "That stupid noise! I swear I've heard it elsewhere before!" "Still don't know what you're talking about." Owl falls back in her seat, somewhat unsatisfied. It's quite dark outside, and much can't be made out. But what is that whoosh noise? She leans closer to the window, desperate for an answer. For a brief moment, she sees something blink behind a tree. Must've been just light reflecting off the house. No wait... there it is again. It's moving! Turning on and off. Bright red. What in the-- Oh. A second one. Green this time. Both blinking. It's like they move at the same time, and now they curve... they're gone. Whoosh. ''And then, they're visible again, this time the green one first. Wait a minute. Red. Green. Blinkers. In the sky. In a circular motion. Making a whoosh sound every time they come near. ''Shit. Pathfinder Inside the converted passenger plane, the pilot sighed. Pathfinder had seen nothing new on the cameras, and it was getting on his nerves. If Minister was coming to blow down the doors, he had a feeling the entire place would've been on fire already. Entertaining the idea of a stealthy Minister opened up a ton of options. He dismissed the errant thoughts with a shake of his head, and decided to check on the camera mounted below his plane. A timer appeared on the screen set for 40 seconds. "Heads up. Remember the camera I mounted on this thing?" "You haven't turned it on yet? WHY?" "Camera takes a while to boot up. It's hard work getting the damn thing to interface with the plane. It's spooling up, and it'll be on in 20 seconds." "Good. Keep us posted." Ten seconds now. All he had to do was wait...done. He switched the view to the belly mounted cam on the plane. All seemed quiet. He switched to Night Vision...and noticed the dark shape near the safehouse. He rubbed his eyes...and switched to Thermal. Red hot. He knew for a fact they didn't park a van there earlier, and Blindside had left before. That heat signature didn't lend itself to a van. More an armored vehicle. If that was here? "Got something on the cam. This ain't good." "What is it?" "Armored vehicle outside the safehouse. Might wanna consider sounding the alarm." "Sounds like a good id-" "''They're here. ''Don't sound the alarm, Paradox. Not until we've managed to ensnare them." "Roger that." "Slight issue. I'm seeing movement on the outside. They're not following the patrol pattern, whoever they are." "Will it be a problem?" "Only until the alarm sounds. Then it's curtains for them." "Paradox, keep us posted. Nightingale, hold your fire." "Gotcha the first time, boss." Minister